Facing a Congressional hearing Wednesday, the State Department on Tuesday sought to distance itself from the White House’s claim that protests over an anti-Muslim video led to the attack which killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others.

#Breaking: State Dept says there were no protest outside the US consulate in #Libya prior to the attack. #ac360

Greta van Susteren posted “very rough notes” from the conference call to her blog, also noting that the State Department had left Fox News off of the conference call but adding that the department has since apologized.

VERY ROUGH NOTES FROM CONFERENCE CALL WITH SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS: Below are very rough notes of the … http://t.co/0R9WFmo9

But asked about the administration’s initial – and since retracted – explanation linking the violence to protests over an anti-Muslim video circulating on the Internet, one official said, “That was not our conclusion.” He called it a question for “others” to answer, without specifying. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter, and provided no evidence that might suggest a case of spontaneous violence or angry protests that went too far.

U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice made the rounds of Sunday morning news shows Sept. 16 pushing the line that a YouTube video was to blame for the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, even as Libya’s president was insisting it was a premeditated assault.

State Dept says there were no protests before Libya attack. So, where did Rice get such detailed info to the contrary? http://t.co/hq3UDg68